KARACHI: All seemed well on Tuesday morning, including the promotional clothing line banners with a similar name announcing their forthcoming sale, which clashed with the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) 2016 banners all over the place, until you decided to turn towards Karsaz, that is.

The strange thing was that all unsuspecting souls were allowed to turn towards Karsaz from Sharea Faisal before being quickly diverted to the service road through a bottleneck where they trundled all the way up to Stadium Road, where one could either get out of the area altogether by heading to Shahrah-i-Quaideen or, if they were heading to any of the hospitals located on that road, take a U-turn to face a massive traffic jam.

Meanwhile, as you struggled to make up your mind here, the traffic policeman with a microphone near the turning was absolutely losing it. One can only pray for the ambulances or patients heading to any of the hospitals on the road during the remaining three days of the defence exhibition.

It was announced during the final briefing ahead of IDEAS 2016 that both tracks of University Road would remain open so as not to disturb the regular flow of traffic there. But the road was closed as everyone was made to turn away or be diverted to Sir Shah Sulaiman Road. The footpaths had their own traffic jams of motor-bikers looking for some respite as they climbed up to come back from the wrong side. Everyone openly cursed any traffic constable they happened to pass, who in reply only shrugged with a sheepish smile and muttered, “What can we do? We have orders.”

And during it all a neat and clean homeless man slept quietly on the greenbelt between the two tracks. No one in uniform bothered or paid any heed to him though some passers-by did wonder if he was an undercover intelligence officer.

Further surprises in store included all mobile phones in the area losing their signals. And hanging from all pedestrian bridges were big Panaflex banners with the message ‘Welcome — all participants of IDEAS 2016 exhibition — arms for peace.”

All the other areas such as Teen Hatti, PIB Colony, Jail Road bore all the pressure from the road blockades.

“When there are local holidays for even the annual urs at various shrines here, why couldn’t the government announce a four-day holiday in Karachi during IDEAS?” asked a father with two little children in school uniform trying to find their way out of the menace.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016